Friday, October 30, 2015

Bad Paperwork to Save S.1887/HR 1493?

That would seem to be the hope, at least, of some of the bill's proponents, given the involvement of archaeologists associated with the State Department/ASOR Syrian cultural heritage initiative in hyping a story about alleged misrepresentations on paperwork of antiquities destined for the Green collection.  Misleadingly, the article associates the seizure of the antiquities with ISIS, even though the alleged transgression dates from 2011, well before ISIS was much of a force in either Iraq or Syria.  

In any event, suspicions aroused about cynical efforts to use ISIS scare tactics probably account for the bill's troubles as much as anything else.  As it is, the Senate is rightly taking its time to consider the the bill's proposed creation of a new State Department bureaucracy as well as its proposed bypass of the CPIA's procedures for CPAC review.  The concerns of all stakeholders should be taken into account despite efforts to distract the Senate with more false claims about ISIS.  

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